Executive Summary

The report briefly highlights the significance of Digital Marketing Strategy in sports industry. Then, the digital marketing audit of Al Gharafa Sports Club is done to identify its social media strengths and weaknesses. Competitor analysis is done through the 4C’s of marketing communications. The customer journey analysis, customer segment and persona development is done to identify the key characteristics of the target customers which could enable the club to devise its digital marketing strategy accordingly. The report covers the digital marketing strategy recommended for Al Gharafa club through TWOS analysis, 6 C’s of consumer motivation, SMART objectives, and strategy building blocks. After strategic choice, a tactical digital marketing plan is designed which includes major strategic activities to pursue digital marketing strategy, resource and budget planning and time frame analysis.

1. Introduction

The advent of digital media and proliferation of social media options has changed the marketing landscape and the way sports organizations communicate with their audience. Previously, the communication process between fans and sports firms was one-way i.e.., from sports firm to fan or from fan to sports firm (Williams and Chinn, 2010). Nonetheless, the digital media has significantly affected how fans access sports information and interact with players and teams (Mahan and McDaniel, 2006). Fans nowadays express their views and access information through technological devices and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube etc. The second screen consumption, i.e., computer, tablet and smart phone, is greater for sports audience (Kelly, 2013). The second-screen viewership and social media engagement is the reason that sports organizations need to evolve from traditional marketing to digital media marketing. Thus, marketing communication strategies in sports need to be tailored according to the changing digital media trends and the sports organizations need to understand the key aspects of digital marketing and utilization of social media.

Al Gharafa Sports Club, founded in 1979, is a Qatari sports club situated in Al Gharafa district of Doha, Qatar. The idea of youth sports club that would represent Al Gharafa was initiated by a group of young Qataris in 1978. It was formed with the motive of providing sports facilities for the community’s youth. It was not known to the leaders that the club would gain success and would win the masses, as it has done today. The Club was formerly established as Al-Ittihad in 1979 and then formally renamed to Al Gharafa Sports Club in 2004 to show representation of the rapidly growing district Al Gharafa (Al Gharafa Sports Club, 2018). Despite offering various sports, the club is renowned for football. The club began its journey from Qatari Second Division competitions. It dominated the competitions and won title during their debut in 1980. Then, it joined Qatar Star League in 1987-88 and won title in 1992 while breaking the records of dominant clubs of Qatar i.e., Al Arabi, Al Rayyan and Al Sadd (QSL, 2018).The purpose of this report is to provide an understanding of digital marketing concepts for Al Gharafa Club. The current digital marketing strategy of the organization would also be analyzed. The audit would lead towards the provision of recommendations for improving the digital marketing effectiveness through the development of digital marketing strategy and a tactical plan.

2. Digital Marketing Audit

2.1. SWOT Analysis of Al Gharafa’s current use of social media

Strengths Al Gharafa Club has established its accounts at numerous social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to reach its audience. Social media enables Al Gharafa to expand its global reach and gain access to its fans worldwide. It has 24,000 followers at Twitter and 18,700 followers at Instagram. It has posted adequate content on social media to engage its fans. It has 2,974 posts on Instagram and 12,000 tweets on Twitter

Weaknesses Facebook is one of the most important social media channel for sports marketing. Nonetheless, Al Gharafa Club has only 1591 followers on Facebook, which can be a major weakness as compared to its competitors. Although enough content has been posted on Al- Gharafa Club’s social media channels, yet they are not maintained regularly. The ever-evolving customer demands necessitates digital media diligence in terms of posting regularly, variety in content, and posting recent or up-to-date content (Royle and Laing, 2014). Al Gharafa’s social media accounts lack these necessary aspects. Digital media can be problematic and damage an organization’s reputation when it comes to deal with the privacy and confidentiality of its audience (Leeflang et al., 2014). Al Gharafa is not currently focusing on ensuring privacy of its social media followers, which is a major weakness.

Opportunities The sports fans are more frequent users of social media typically (Broughton, 2012). By the same token, the trend of sports following through social media has increased in the recent times. Thus, Al-Gharafa club can cater its fans by developing engaging content. Social media can enable sports organizations to reach potential markets, owing to its global reach (Shank and Lyberger, 2014). The club can expand its market by reaching more audience worldwide and making the club’s name known internationally. Nowadays, social media has become a cost-effective method of promotion as compared to traditional marketing promotions in sports industry (Ferrand and McCarthy, 2009). Al Gharafa can promote its club through social media campaigns in a cost-effective manner. Moreover, it can also make its sales and services more efficient through other online media platforms.

Threats The competitors of Al Gharafa Club such as Al-Sadd sports club and Al-Ahli sports club are also using social media platforms to engage Qatari fans. The digital technology and media trends keep on changing at a very fast pace. The use of digital media necessitates the organizations to constantly rejuvenate their digital media tools and strategies according to the rapidly changing trends. Constant change, innovation and up-gradation are pre-requisites in today’s digital media marketing era (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). Legislations concerning digital media keep on changing (Leeflang et al., 2014). It is important for Al Gharafa Club to be aware of the related rules and regulations.

2.2. Evaluation of two competitors using social media

The major competitors of Al Gharafa Club that is Al-Sadd sports club and Al-Ahli sports club are using digital marketing in the form of social media to reach and engage the target audience. The sports fans in Qatar are profoundly using social media platforms to share their views and to connect with their favourite teams and clubs. An overview of Al-Gharafa’s competitors’ use of social media is given as follows

• Al-Sadd sports club has a strong presence on Facebook. It is followed by 45,500 people. Likewise, Al-Ahli sports club also has a strong presence on Facebook. It is followed by 58,087 people on Facebook. Nonetheless, Al Gharafa is followed by 1591 people only. It reflects that Al-Gharafa lags behind its competitors in terms of engaging customers through social media. Thus, it needs to revamp its digital media marketing strategy.
• Al-Ahli sports club posts pictures, statuses and news regularly, as compared to Al Gharafah on Facebook. It reflects that Al Gharafa’s competitors are more up-to-date to engage fans through social media.
• YouTube subscribers of Al-Ahli (4,636) and Al-Sadd (3,863) outnumber the subscribers of Al Gharafa (653).

2.3. Evaluation of Competitor’s 4C’s: Al-Sadd and Al-Ahli

• The evaluation of Competitors’ social media strategy is done through the 4C’s (Clarity, Credibility, Consistency, Competitiveness) for marketing communications proposed by Jobber and Fahy, (2009).

Clarity	Use of simple language and well-sought messages on their social media pages. Use of local language in YouTube videos (interviews and commentary etc) and picture captions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages a to engage customers
Credibility	Although thousands of fans have followed Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, credibility of Al-Sadd and Al-Ahli may be low in the minds of fans. It is because of the fact that the social media posts are not actively responded. There are very few active followers of who respond (comment, like, share, review etc) to their posts. Due to low rate of active following, other followers may not perceive the social media messages of these clubs quite credible.
Consistency	The messages of these competitors are consistent with the medium of communication. For instance, Al-Sadd and Al-Ahli post short duration and entertaining videos on Facebook, while detailed videos and documentaries regarding the clubs are on Youtube. On Instagram they post captivating pictures of players to inspire fans In addition to website, Al-Sadd and Al-Ahli post event schedules on their Facebook due to increasing trend of event scheduling on Facebook.
Competitiveness	The competitors have competitive edge over Al Gharafa club because of more followers on Facebook and YouTube. The posts on their social media pages are more up-to-date as compared to Al Gharafa’s posts.

2.4. Identification of two key customer groups

The Al Gharafa Club targets its customers on the basis of various types of segmentation. Firstly, the major market of Al Gharafa is targeted on the basis of psychographic segmentation. It primarily attracts Qatari sports enthusiasts by attracting all the sports fans. Secondly, it focuses on demographic segmentation on the basis of age, by engaging youth of the community. The club was originated to provide platform for the youngsters of the Al Gharafa district in community sports. The personas of two key customer groups are shown below:

Persona of Key Customer Group 1: Sports Enthusiasts
Profile Summary Personality Type: Social, active and sports aficionado Interests/Hobbies: Following sports events, Traveling, Engaging with favorite players	Computer Literacy: Intermediate to High Media Choice: Facebook and Twitter.
Age Bracket: 30 and above Gender: Male Status: Upper-Middle Class Location: Qatar	Motivations: To engage with community sports clubs to enjoy in leisure time. To stay connected to sports regardless of their age To stay active regardless of their busy routine Frustrations: Hectic work life Not enough time to actively involve in sports Influences: Sports clubs give them an escape from the tiring routine and keep them connected to their sports interest.

Persona of Key Customer Group 2: Youngsters
Profile Summary Personality Type: Highly interactive, extrovert, self-motivated, young sports lovers. Interests/Hobbies: Organizing and Following sports events, Engaging with favorite players, Socialize in groups through sport clubs.	Computer Literacy: High computer literacy and frequent use of social media Media Choice: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
Age Bracket: 15-30 years Gender: Male Status: Middle and Upper class Location: Qatar	Motivations: To actively engage with community sports clubs To stay connected to sports as their favorite hobby To enjoy with friends and peers in sports events Frustrations: Boredom Limited recreational choices Limited options to enjoy in groups Lack of adequate sports entertainment opportunities Influences: Sports clubs give them an opportunity to socialize and enjoy with friends. These clubs also give them a chance to enjoy sports as their preferred hobby and to interact with their favorite teams.

2.5. Al- Gharafa Experience Map

Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction

Customers are satisfied/dissatisfied based upon social website portfolio of the club.

Post service use of social media

Customers use social media to reach to the club post service

Experience

Young Qatari football enthusiasts join football club and the football fans show their support to the club

Expectations

The customers develop certain expectations from the club

Pre-Service use of social media

Customers search about the club on social media sites and are influenced by electronic word of mouth e.g. customers’ reviews

Advertisement

Young football enthusiasts are triggered through advertisements

Figure 1: Customer journey map of Al-Ghafara

2.6. Evaluation of 6 Cs for Consumer Motivation

In the era of digital marketing, there is a perpetual need to understand customer motivation and expectation. It is important for online platforms to acknowledge the factors that shape customers’ decision in order to tailor their marketing activities and define an online value proposition. The 6 Cs proposed by David Chaffey help to provide an understanding of the stimulus behind the customer’s online purchase decisions (Chaffey, 2004).

1. Content: Content includes providing comprehensive information to the audience such as the product/service, purchase process, cost, product usage and service information (Al Karim, 2013). It is important to focus that right content is provided to the target audience through the right channel. Al Gharafa provides comprehensive information to its fans through its social media platforms. It includes a lot of visuals such as videos and pictures to add value in its content.
2. Customization: It includes customization of content according to the needs of the target customers. Customization is important in online marketing to make customer feel that his/her identity has been recognized and acknowledged (Chaffey and Smith, 2013). Al Gharafa club caters the need of customization as it engages the community by posting content related to the community of Al Gharafa. In this way, the audience feels connected to the club. Moreover, the use of local language in online posts is also a way to engage local community by Al Gharafa.
3. Community: The availability of online forums to engage and communicate with customers is a crucial aspect of customer service. This allows customers to share their views and queries. The lack of availability over the social media platforms to address customer issues can push them away(Chaffey, 2004). Al Gharafa’s social media activeness shows that it is readily available to engage with its fans.
4. Convenience: This aspect focuses on services that ensure convenience for the customers such as round the clock accessibility, turnaround time and after sales services. Social media platforms are quite beneficial in providing 24/7 availability for the sports fans. Al Gharafa can use social media platforms to provide full-time accessibility and other services to fulfill the request of its fans.
5. Cost Reduction: The social media platforms are cost-effective as compared to the traditional marketing mediums. The social media lowers the cost of the organization as no third party is involved to reach its audience. Al Gharafa reduces its cost through online promotions of its events which could be quite expensive otherwise.
6. Choice: It is crucial to provide alternative choices by empowering customers to take decisions. The choices such as products/services, payment methods, mode of delivery, and return options can make customers of Al Gharafa more empowered.

Figure 2: 6 Cs of Consumer Motivation

3.0. Digital Marketing Strategy

3.1. TOWS Analysis

After the digital marketing audition, digital marketing strategies could be devised in the light of SWOT analysis of Al Gharafa. The details of the four strategies (SO ‘‘Maxi-Maxi’’, ST ‘‘Maxi-Mini’’, WO “Mini-Maxi”, and WT “Mini-Mini” strategy) are given in the TWOS matrix below

	External Opportunities (O) 1. The use of multiple social media channels to cater the increasing trend of social media among sports fans 2.Global reach 3. Cost-effective marketing	External Threats (T) 1. Competition 2. Change in digital media trends and technology 3. Tailor the online content according to the prevailing legislations
Internal Strengths (S) 1. Use of multiple social media channels 2. Market access through digital media 3. Tailor the online content according to the prevailing legislations	SO – “Maxi-Maxi” Strategy Strategies that use strengths to maximise opportunities. Expand its target market through global reach of digital media platforms Adequate online content of Al Gharafa can enable to engage sports fans effectively Multiple social media channels can be used simultaneously for cost-effective marketing of Al Gharafa Club	ST – “Maxi-Mini” Strategy Strategies that use strengths to minimise threats. The competition could be faced by effective use of social media platforms to engage fans in a better way Market access provides adequate market knowledge, implement the recent trends in social media platforms Tailor the online content according to the prevailing legislations
Internal Weaknesses (W) 1. Lack of Facebook followership 2. Insufficient maintenance, regularity and up-gradation 3. Inadequate privacy handling	WO – “Mini-Maxi” Strategy Strategies that minimise weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities. The increased focus on Facebook followership and content to engage social media users more than before Regular and adequate maintenance of online content and digital media according to the recent trends Adequate privacy handling is a pre-requisite for online marketing across the globe. Al-Gharafa needs to cater this issue before targeting global audience. Regular maintenance of social media platforms according to the recent trends would keep the organization updated about the recent trends in online media for being cost efficient	WT – “Mini-Mini” Strategy Strategies that minimise weaknesses and avoid threats. Pay attention to Facebook and Twitter accounts to compete with rivals. Sufficient maintenance to follow the changing digital market trends Pay attention to privacy issues to follow the recent legislations

Table 1: TOWS Matrix

3.2. Recommended digital marketing strategy based on Audit and SWOT: RACE planning

The digital marketing strategy of Al Gharafa Club is based on the digital marketing audit and TWOS analysis of the club. RACE planning is chosen as the digital marketing strategy for Al Gharafa Club. RACE stands for ‘‘Reach-Act-Convert-Engage.’’ RACE planning focuses on increasing the business returns through digital marketing planning. RACE planning involves four major steps as elaborated by Chaffey (2015)

1. Reach: At this stage, the organization should create awareness of its brand through digital presence through its various online sites. Al Gharafa needs to increase awareness, preference and visits of the club through its social media pages. The key performance at this stage can be evaluated through the fan visits, audience sharing the content of club, revenue per visit, search volume, and conversation threads (Chen et al., 2015).
2. Act: At this stage, organization needs to engage audience to interact with various digital devices and online mediums to generate leads. It is important for Al Gharafa to decrease the bounce rate of its audience to increase their engagement. It needs to increase the visits over its social media pages and engage fans in such a way that they become leads i.e.., potential account, opportunity or contact of the club. It can be done through effective relationship management by actively engaging the customers by catering for their requirements and attracting them in innovative ways. Digital media can enable Al Gharafa to become highly responsive to the fans’ needs and adopt creative ways to interact with customers. In this way, lead conversion of the club can be increased.
3. Convert: At this stage, the organization needs to focus on achieving conversion to sales through relevant mediums. The conversion rate to sale needs to be analysed to know about what sales are going to be closed. All the efforts to build relation with customers can be wasted if these relations are not converted into revenues after a certain time period(Chen et al., 2015). Therefore, Al Gharafa needs to tailor its social media campaigns to attract customer purchase decision. The average order value can be increased through attractive discounts or deals. It can be made effective by encouraging customer reviews about the prices and offers by club. The offerings and prices can then be tailored according to the customer preferences.
4. Engage: After conversion to sales, the organization should focus on ways to encourage customers to buy again. The organization should focus on encouraging customer recommendation and content sharing (Chen et al., 2015). The customer satisfaction can be evaluated through customer comments, ratings and reviews on social media accounts of the club. Moreover, content sharing can be enhanced by attractive offers and promotional campaigns. For instance, Al Gharafa club can offer attractive deals during Stars League season to repeat conversion and encourage sharing.

3.3. Strategy Blocks

Strategy Blocks	Al Gharafa Club’s response
We will (increase the fame and revenues of Al Gharafa Club)	Increasing market reach
With (social media offerings)	Offering various deals, services/products, modes of payment, delivery, guarantee and encouraging customer reviews
That is bought by (Qatari audience and youth)	Staying ahead in competition and Capturing maximum market share among Qatari audience as compared to competitors
Because (it increases their awareness and engagement with the club and provides them with attractive offers to repeat and share their purchase experience)	Enhancing social media presence, 24/7 accessibility, responsiveness to customer needs and market trends, continuous improvement and up-gradation of digital media, targeting customers with lucrative offers, encourage content sharing, online campaigns.

Table 2: Strategy Blocks

3.4. SMART Objectives

The SMART objectives of Al Gharafa club’s digital marketing strategy would flow from 5S adopted by Chaffey and Smith (2013), i.e. sell, serve, speak, save and sizzle. Sell refers to the forecasting of the sales and targeted number of potential customers. It can be done by forecasting the leads of the online marketing which would deliver sales for the organization (Fan, Kumar and Whinston, 2007). The second S i.e. serve refers to improving customer service is another major goal of digital media marketing. Online customer service can be improved by finding out new ways to serve customers (Hu, Liu and Zang, 2008). Talking about the third S i.e. speak, in digital marketing, two-way communication and information sharing is important to enhance interaction with the clients (Thurlow and Mroczek, 2011). It can be done by providing adequate online information to the clients about the product/service, related events, prices, discounts/offers, delivery and payment modes etc. The strategy of ‘save’ involves increasing business efficiency by saving time and reducing costs. The digital marketing platforms are cost effective as compared to the expensive traditional marketing media (Teo, 2005). For instance, digital media ads cost considerably less than giving ads in TV and print media. Moreover, the digital media platforms incorporate technology to be highly efficient and responsive. The use of social media saves a lot of time and cost in terms of customer relationship management because direct interaction is more expensive and time consuming. Moreover, sales process can also be made efficient through online booking, purchase or delivery. So, Al Gharafa club can make goals such as ‘‘save cost through Online/social media ads’’, ‘‘managing relations through online engagement of fans’’ and ‘‘instant ticket booking or purchase options.’’ It can save time and cost for both the club and the fans as compared to its competitors. Lastly, the strategy of ‘sizzle’ mandates the creation of a unique brand experience and providing additional value more than the customers’ expectations. It can be done by attracting the audience and entertaining them in a unique manner (Kirby, 2007). The viral posts, entertaining sports themes and anthems, enjoyable ads, lucrative offers/deals, providing an opportunity to interact with favorite players can create a wow factor for the Al Gharafa through digital media.

Based upon the 5S discussed above, three SMART objectives can be set for Al-Gharafa

1. Al Gharafa should forecast the target sales through digital media such as ‘‘Increase online revenues by 10-15%’’. To achieve this sales target, the club needs to set its goals accordingly. Al Gharafa can boost its revenues by the end of 2018 by taking different measures. It can increase trust in online purchase process by providing convenient ways to purchase, therefore, goals can be such as ‘‘Providing guarantee of refund’’ and ‘‘24/7 availability and instant booking/purchase’’ respectively.
2. Al Gharafa can improve its customer service through customer feedback. The goal can be set as ‘‘Resolving customer queries/complaints within 24 hours.’’
3. Al-Gharafa can provide some additional information in the form of FAQs on sites and social pages of the club, in addition to the basic information. Moreover, the comments, ratings, reviews and discussion forums can help the club to engage customers. Working on these lines, Al Gharafa club can strengthen its social media presence by September 2018.

4.0. Digital Marketing Plan

Having analysed the importance of digital media marketing and acknowledging that Al-Gharafa lags behind its competitors in terms of social media reach, this report has chalked out a marketing plan for Al-Gharafa. This plan is based on the objectives set by Al-Gharafa and maps how these objectives will be achieved. A Gantt Chart and budget have also been included in the digital marketing plan.

• Top leadership needs to pay attention to the Digital Marketing Strategy and social media tools.
• Talented workforce is required to implement the digital marketing strategy.
• Adequate training is required to utilize the social media tools and techniques.
• Change management: It is important for Al Gharafa club to gradually transform its traditional marketing to digital marketing strategy. Gradual transition would decrease the fear and resistance of stakeholders towards change (Mento, Jones and Dirndorfer, 2002).
• Market knowledge: It is important to be well-versed with the digital marketing trends to evolve to the changing technological, customer, and market trends.
• 24/7 Availability and Resources: To ensure one-click availability and immediate responsiveness, it is important for Al Gharafa to allocate more resources and budget towards digital marketing technology.
• Revamping the distribution process: The distribution of tickets and other services would be changed due to the use of digital media marketing. Distribution would become more convenient and cost-effective.
• Digital Sales Expertise: It is crucial to hire digital marketing and sales experts to increase sales by boosting conversion rates and repeat sales rates (Chen et al., 2015). Digital media experts have the adequate knowledge of social media tactics to attract more customers and convert leads into sales which is different from traditional sales technique.
• Adequate social media presence: The organization should utilize the digital media platforms optimally. Al Gharafa needs to expand its Facebook and Youtube visibility and followership to compete its rivals.
• Exploring new platforms: After utilizing existing platforms, it can focus on new social media platforms such as Snapchat in order to stay ahead of its competitors and reaching its customers more innovatively.
• Resource planning: Adequateresources need to be allocated to social media marketing but financial needs of other business processes cannot be ignored. So, careful resource planning should be done.
• Funding and Sponsorship: The club needs to look for new funding resources or attract the existing funders to invest in digital marketing. In this digital era, online sponsorships are on rise and this opportunity should be exploited by Al Gharafa.
• Online Advertisement: Although online advertisements are less expensive, yet they are different from conventional advertisements as they have to reach the audience from different online mediums (Truong, McColl and Kitchen, 2010). Online advertisements should be designed in a way that they are fit for variegated social media channels such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
• Culture of innovation: For digital media marketing, an organization should be open to innovation. Al Gharafa should encourage brainstorming among its employees and welcome new ideas from its workforce in order to foster innovation.
• Saving costs: The digitization of marketing activities save time and cost to the company (Kiang, Raghu and Shang, 2000). Efficiency can be achieved through online customer interaction instead of direct interaction, high responsiveness, cost-effective methods of 24/7 availability, efficient ticket booking and purchasing, low printing costs, low cost advertising and promotions etc.
• Reinvesting margin: The cost-effective marketing strategy can save a lot of costs to the organization which can further be re-invested to improve and innovate the business processes and offerings (Johnson et al., 2008).
• Customization: Customization can be done in digital marketing by incorporating customer needs and market trends more responsively.
• Feedback: Feedback of customers can be collected by analysing their comments, reviews and discussion on online forums.
• Customer retention: The prime goal of all digital marketing strategies would be to retain the customer.
• Deducing bounce rate: The bounce rate should be decreased by enhancing the customer experience. When the customer first opens the site or social page, it should win his/her limited and selective attention. Therefore, the main site or home page should incorporate eye-catching details.
• Sales forecast: Sales forecast is extremely important to know whether the club is meeting the intended sales targets or not.
• Promotions: The sales can be boosted through promotional campaigns such as serving a cause, offering discounts, and group deals etc.
• Co-creation: Involving customers in the business activity or encouraging customer ideas to create/improve product and services can make the organization more innovative and its digital marketing would also become more effective (Johnson et al., 2008).
• Legislation: The club should study the legislation regarding sports, digital media, online marketing and consumer rights in detail (Leeflang et al., 2014).
• Privacy issues: The confidentiality of the private information of team players and the fans should be maintained (Caudill and Murphy, 2000). Privacy laws and settings regarding social media should be taken care of.
• Continuous innovation is crucial to survive with the changing digital media trends and new technology.
• Value-for-money: The perceived value of the organization’s offerings in the mind of customers should not be in any case less than the price they are being charged (Johnson et al., 2008).
• Cutting the clutter: It is very important to plan how the social media platform will be differentiated from the clutter and would not be lost in the online information overload.
• Upgrading buyer personas: The buyer personas need to be continuously upgraded. The quantitative or demographic information may remain the same, but qualitative or psychographic information keeps on evolving such as goals, hobbies, interests and priorities of the audience, may change over time.
• Unique experiences: Thesports fans can be attracted if the club offers unique experiences such as sports competitions, lucky draws to meet players, free tickets to win its audience.
• Acquire more data from fans: More data needs to be collected from fans which would enlighten the club about their preferences. It can be done through online or offline surveys.
• The global examples: The success stories across the globe such as Manchester United’s digital media strategy having millions of followers and subscribers (Cohen, 2017), can give valuable insights to the Al Gharafa club.
• Track user behaviour: Online user behaviour needs to be tracked and the digital media tactics should be altered accordingly (Sigala, 2017).
• Other sports: In addition to football, AlGharafa club should promote other sports on its online platforms to expand its customer base.
• Wow Factor: There must be a unique selling point to offer the customers to gain edge over competitors. It can be created through mesmerizing experiences such as viral content, virtual reality games, celebrity meet-ups etc (Kirby, 2007). Thus, Al-Gharafa needs to entail a wow factor or unique selling point in its digital marketing strategy so that it can stand out from the rest of its competitors.
• Treating negative reviews: On social media, the negative reviews can mar any company’s reputation (Hu, Liu and Zang, 2008). It implies that Al-Gharafa should avoid negative previews proactively by offering quality and reliable services In case a negative review occurs, it should be given full attention and the root cause of the grievance should be solved immediately to save company’s image.
• Synergies and partnerships: The club should try to find out new synergies for boosting its digital media presence.

Gantt chart covers tactical plan activities that will be taken from 5 June 2018 to 21 May 2019. The estimated budget is shown below:

Activity	Estimated Cost
Hiring Facebook Digital Marketer	$200
Hire Customer Service Team	$1000
Install Social Media Analytics	$300-$400
Use Google Analytics	$100
Develop Mobile Site	$100
Outsource Website Developer	$100
Search Engine Optimization	$200
Pay Per Click Advertisement	$100-$200
Twitter Ads	$0
Facebook Ads	$0
Google Advertisement	$100-$200
Web Contents Development	$100
Create Viral Video	$100
Publish Viral Video	$0
Website Development	$100-$200
Email Marketing	$100
Web Banner	$200-$300
Total Average Cost	$2800-$2900

Table: Estimated Digital Media Marketing Budget of Al-Gharafa

References:

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